1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of wireless communications. In particular, the invention relates to the user interaction with a mobile terminal when switching between communication services.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In the development of wireless communications, there is a trend towards supporting various communication services in addition to a conventional voice call. Some communications services, such as short message service (SMS), multimedia message service (MMS), e-mail, network operator messages, push services, etc., are not continuous services and can be provided in secondary connections which are simultaneous with the primary connection and which do not require disconnection of the primary connection. Depending on the particular air interface, multiple simultaneous connections may be possible to/from a wireless communication terminal. For example, GSM wireless communication networks can provide a primary circuit switched (CS) connection for a voice/data call and a simultaneous secondary connection which can send and receive SMS messages during the call to a mobile terminal with a headset.
Some communications services, such as voice, instant messaging (such as chat), and video messaging, can only be provided through primary connections because the user interaction in the service is expected to be substantially continuous without any lengthy interruption. GSM and other conventional wireless communication networks can only provide one primary connection at a time to a mobile terminal. Thus, the primary connection for one communication service must be ended before the primary connection for another communication service is initiated. Furthermore, a communication service, such as a chat session, may be automatically terminated by an incoming phone call and cannot be resumed after the incoming phone call has ended.
A Wideband Code Division Multiplex Access (WCDMA) air interface has been proposed in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (www.3gpp.org) which can provide several simultaneous primary connections to a single wireless communication terminal. However, even though multiple primary connections may be available over a WCDMA air interface, the user experience at the terminal when switching between primary connections may not be fluent or otherwise satisfactory, especially when a user wishes to continue communicating with the same person but through a different type of communication service. A person may desire to switch from a voice service to a chat service because they no longer wish to speak out loud. A person may desire to switch from a voice service to a video service so that they can see something, such a person's face, or to switch from a video service to a voice service so that something will not be seen.
Even if multiple primary connections are available in a wireless communication network, the user interaction necessary to switch between communication services consists of performing two separate methods, the first method consisting of those steps necessary to terminate the first communication service and the second method consisting of those steps necessary to activate the second communication service. Although the network allows different types of communication services, there is still a disadvantage that the user interaction is cumbersome at least because different methods and several steps are necessary to switch between the communication services. The lack of immediacy in switching is a concern because the user may believe that he has lost contact with the other person if there is a long period of time without contact while the switching occurs.
There are now numerous communication services which carry various forms and combinations of multimedia content such as video, web content, graphics and text. As used in this application, the term “multimedia” refers to any content having a visual element. The mobile terminals of wireless communication networks, particularly phones of cellular networks, are now capable of transporting data, including multimedia data in various communication services. Many types of mobile terminals are being used, such as cellular phones, cordless telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), palm-held computers and laptop computers. The strong push in current wireless technology development is to use mobile terminals for varied applications and to allow users of such devices to seamlessly integrate events and needs in their lives while maintaining adequate communications power to receive and transmit all of the data and information which has an impact on them.
An advanced mobile terminal supported by so-called third generation (3G) and fourth generation (4G) networks and using the latest innovations in computers, software, displays and other technologies may access and receive a variety of many different communication services. Unfortunately, the manner and duration (apparent to the user) of the procedure necessary for switching among the communication services may vary widely and unpredictably. These communication services may be provided by different information sources in other networks and may be based on and built upon a variety of data transfer techniques. This introduces more delay and uncertainty into mobile terminal switching among different communication services.
For at least these reasons, present methods of switching between different communication services at a mobile terminal have disadvantages. Accordingly, there is a need for effective solutions that allow for easy and substantially immediate mobile terminal switching between different communication services without it appearing to the user that the connection is broken at any time.